In 2014,
it was the Ukraine’s turn, and after a prolonged campaign orchestrated by Victoria Nuland and
the US State Department (again) which succeeded in the now traditional
violent coup (see Egypt and Libya), once again saw Putin victorious,
after yesterday’s annexation of the all important Crimean peninsula,
achieved without the firing of one shot.

So now that Putin has succeeded in trouncing the US twice in a row,
it is time to poke some old, well-known geopolitical wounds, such as
Iran. And who better to do it than Israel, where as Haaretz reports, “Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon have
ordered the army to continue preparing for a possible military strike on
Iran’s nuclear facilities at a cost of at least 10 billion shekels
($2.89 billion) this year, despite the talks between Iran and the West, according to recent statements by senior military officers.”

Take Ha'aretz with a HUGE grain of salt. Over the years it has evolved into an overly leftist mouthpiece, not just in editorial stance but in reportage. It is analogous to Great Britain's Guardian newspaper.

Report: IDF Preparing for Armed Conflict with Iran
Newspaper
claims top government officials allotted billions of shekels to IDF for
possible war with Iran in 2014. But is it true?
AAFont Size
By Tova Dvorin
First Publish: 3/19/2014, 7:41 PM
Iranian Armed Forces march in Tehran
Reuters

The report cites "senior military officials" and three unnamed
Knesset MKs as stating that the huge sum - the same as in 2013 - has
been relegated within the IDF treasury for preparations for an attack on
the Islamic Republic in 2014.

The report also interprets statements from IDF representatives and
"government officials from the political echelon" as the IDF receiving
direct orders from Netanyahu and Ya'alon over the issue.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and IDF Spokesperson's Office both declined to comment.

While Ya'alon was adamant about
the US taking the lead in attacks against Iran in the previous Knesset
term, and took up the issue with then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak, he
recently criticized the US and the West for remaining complacent about the outcome of ongoing talks.

"Everyone knows Iran is lying," Ya'alon noted. "But the pampered West
is satisfied with postponing conflict [with Iran over the nuclear
program]." He added that it may be possible to stall Iran "until next
year - or even after this term - but eventually, it will explode."

Iran Deal: Stalling for More Time?

Under a six-month interim deal which was reached in November and went
into effect in January, Iran agreed to freeze its uranium enrichment
program in return for sanctions relief worth some $6-7 billion, including the transfer of some $4.2 billion in frozen overseas funds.

That interim agreement is meant to lead to a final accord that
minimizes any potential Iranian nuclear weapons threat in return for a
full lifting of sanctions.

Ya'alon's skepticism has continued as world powers, including the United States, gathered in Vienna to
try and hammer out the details of a final agreement with Iran this
week. Iran recently downplayed its acceptance of such a deal, however,
leaving US congressmen scrambling to enact more sanctions against the regime.

Some US officials are warming to the possibility of a military conflict, despite talks. Lieutenant General (ret.)
William G. "Jerry" Boykin, former U.S. Deputy Under Secretary of
Defense, warned earlier this month that the interim agreement is a "farce" and encouraged the US to take military action.

​In the meantime, however, talks continue - and EU and Iranian
officials both claimed the Vienna meetings have seen some successes.

"We had substantive and useful discussions covering a set of
issues including (uranium) enrichment, the Arak reactor, civil nuclear
cooperation and sanctions," the EU's Catherine Ashton stated Wednesday,
according to the Daily Star.

​Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif added, "there are signs
that an understanding is possible that respects the rights of the
Iranian nation."